Biometrics

Although it sounds novel, biometrics is not a new technology at all. I bet you have seen some movies or dramas in which people scan their fingerprints or eyeballs to open some security doors. Yes, this technology has been developed for years, but due to the high costs of the implementation and its immaturity, biometric systems were only used in some special places. Nowadays, many organiztions in public sector such as libraris begin to accept this new technology. The Naperville (Ill.) Public Library board approved a $40,646 contract May 18 with a local technology firm to install fingerprint scanners on its public internet computers. The scanners, to be installed this summer, will replace the current system of requiring patrons to enter their library-card and PIN numbers to prove their identity (ALA, May, 2005 news).

So what on earth is biometrics? Simply put, biometrics refers to authentication techniques that rely on measurable physical characteristics that can be automatically checked. There are several types of biometric identification schemes:

face: the analysis of facial characteristics

fingerprint: the analysis of an individual’s unique fingerprints

hand geometry: the analysis of the shape of the hand and the length of the fingers

retina: the analysis of the capillary vessels located at the back of the eye

iris: the analysis of the colored ring that surrounds the eye’s pupil

signature: the analysis of the way a person signs his name.

vein: the analysis of pattern of veins in the back if the hand and the wrist

voice: the analysis of the tone, pitch, cadence and frequency of a person’s voice.

Compared with current library authentication, biometrics identification has many advantages. It can provide extremely accurate, secured access to information; it can be done very rapidly and uniformly, with a minimum of training; user's identity can be verified without resort to documents that may be stolen, lost or altered.

However, it also involved some privacy issues. Some opponents pointed the ability of third parties to access bio information in identifiable form and link it to other information, resulting in secondary uses of that information, without the consent of the individual. (Cavoukian, 1998). Given this, an individual has no means over the control of his or her personal information, who uses it, or how it gets distributed.

Some references that may help you understand more:

Biometrics FAQ

Privacy & Technology: Surveillance & Wiretapping

U.K. Privacy Groups Give Thumbs-Down to Storing Library Users' Fingerprints

Learning to Live With Biometrics

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